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Mélanie Henderson, PhD

Clinical Assistant Professor, Université de Montréal & Researcher, Research Center of CHU Sainte-Justine

Lifestyle habits and the risk of Diabetes in youth: what’s the evidence? … and what can we do with it?

ALL ARE WELCOME

SYNOPSIS:

Decreased insulin sensitivity and impaired pancreatic B-cell function have been identified as key components in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Given the obesity epidemic in Canadian children, pre-diabetes and early type 2 diabetes are emerging concerns. In adults, extensive evidence shows that lifestyle modifications prevent or delay the transition from pre-diabetes states such as impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance to type 2 diabetes mellitus with up to 58% decreased progression. However, the impact of physical activity, fitness and sedentary behavior on glucose homeostasis remains poorly understood in children and adolescents. Recent data from American children estimate that the prevalence of pre-diabetes has increased by 87% over a 5-year-period, and Canadian figures put obese youth at highest risk for pre-diabetes. Moreover, only 4-7% of Canadian children and youth are currently meeting physical activity guidelines. In addition 31% of Canadian children and 69% of youth exceed the recommended maximum of 2 hours of ST daily. Understanding the link between adiposity, physical activity, sedentary behavior, fitness and abnormal glucose metabolism is essential to the development of effective preventive strategies.

OBJECTIVES:

1) To understand the role of physical activity and sedentary behavior in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes in childhood;

2) To understand the role of dietary habits in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes in childhood;

3) To gain insight into the clinical applicability of this type of research.

BIO:

Mélanie Henderson completed her training in occupational therapy prior to pursuing her studies in medicine at McGill University. She did her specialty training in pediatrics and 2 years of subspecialty training in pediatric endocrinology at the Hospital for Sick Children (University of Toronto). She completed a third year of pediatric endocrinology training at CHU Sainte-Justine (Université de Montréal). During her subspecialty training, she completed her Master’s in epidemiology at University of Toronto, and went on to complete her PhD in epidemiology at McGill University. She is a clinical assistant professor at Université de Montréal, and a researcher at the Research Center of CHU Sainte-Justine. Her research interests focus on obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk factors in childhood.

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